Application of direct contact membrane distillation for saline dairy effluent treatment: performance and fouling analysis.

Membrane distillation is getting increasing attention thanks to its advantages in terms of energy consumption and final permeate quality in addition to its resistance against highly corrosive media which forms an appealing solution for industrial wastewater treatment. Despite its advantages, one of the most challenging issues in direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) is membrane fouling and wetting. In the present research work, saline dairy effluent discharged from hard cheese industry was pretreated by macrofiltration (MAF) and ultrafiltration (UF) and processed by DCMD to investigate the extent of the aforementioned issues.

Switching to statins: a challenge for primary care.

In 1997, doctors in England received official guidelines on the use of statins (3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A inhibitors) for primary and secondary prevention of coronary heart disease (CHD). Six months later we determined the status of patients who had been discharged from a specialist lipid clinic in 1989. 195 patients received questionnaires, with the consent of their general practitioners, regarding morbidity in, the subsequent decade and present medication, and were asked to have their cholesterol checked.

Somatic embryogenesis in Arabidopsis thaliana is facilitated by mutations in genes repressing meristematic cell divisions.

Embryogenesis in plants can commence from cells other than the fertilized egg cell. Embryogenesis initiated from somatic cells in vitro is an attractive system for studying early embryonic stages when they are accessible to experimental manipulation. Somatic embryogenesis in Arabidopsis offers the additional advantage that many zygotic embryo mutants can be studied under in vitro conditions.

The petunia MADS box gene FBP11 determines ovule identity.

In contrast to the wealth of information relating to genes regulating floral meristem and floral organ identity, only limited data are available concerning genes that are involved in determining and regulating the identity and development of an ovule. We have recently isolated the floral binding protein 11 (FBP11) MADS box gene from petunia and found that it is expressed exclusively in ovule primordia and subsequently in the ovules, suggesting a role for this gene in ovule formation. To test this hypothesis, we constructed a recombinant gene in which the full-size FBP11 cDNA was placed under the control of a strong cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter.